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|  Alan Webb Breaks Scott's American Record By Walt Murphy July 22, 2007 Walt Murphy's News and Results Service
(Thanks to flotrack.com for providing a video record of the
race). Alan Webb ran the mile in 3:46.91 in Brasschaat, Belgium,
on Saturday to break Steve Scott's 25-year old American
record of 3:47.69
Frustrated by European meet promoters who didn't want to
put on a mile, Ray Flynn, Webb's manager, took matters into
his own hands and worked with the local organizers of the
"Atletiek Vlaanderen" meet to put on this special race. He
and coach Scott Raczko knew the time was right for Webb to
take a shot at the record. The setting was a 6 lane track,
surrounded by trees, in the community park in Brasschaat, a
suburb of Antwerp in the Flemish region of Belgium. It was
Independence Day in Belgium and less than a thousand
spectators were on hand.
Webb and the other Americans competing in the meet didn't
have to travel far, since most of them are based in nearby
Leuven while they prepare for other European meets.
The weather was ideal (warm, calm) as the 9-man field took
off at the gun, with Webb settling into 3rd behind the two
rabbits, Australian Youcef Abdi and Kenyan Samson Surum.
Abdi did his job well, going through the first _-mile in a
shade under 56-seconds, with Surum, Webb (56.2), and
Australian Mark Fountain following closely. (All splits are
approximate).
There was some concern on the 2nd lap when Surum failed
to maintain contact with Abdi. Webb was briefly tempted to
move past Surum, but decided to stay where he was. Said
Webb in a post-race, trans-Atlantic, conference
call (tinyurl.com/2bba7h), "We slowed down the second lap.
The second pace-setter kind of fell off a little bit. I was a little
worried he wasn't going to be able to go the whole way. I
think he might have been hurting a little bit and wanted to be
sure he could get through in a decent time." Abdi reached the way mark in about 1:53.0 before
dropping out, with Webb a few meters behind in 1:53.7
(Scott's split was 1:53.8 in his record race). Fountain was
still right behind Webb. A re-energized Surum picked up the
pace on the 3rd lap, moving wide down the stretch as Webb
passed the -mile split in 2:50.6. It was slower than the
sub-2:50 he was looking for, but still more than a second
ahead of Scott's pace (2:51.9).
With one lap to go, Webb was confident he could get the
record. "I knew I had a little bit left going with a lap to go. I
felt I had a really good chance". Showing no signs of
slowing down after the quick pace, Webb powered down the
homestretch and crossed the line well under Scott's record.
The infield clock originally flashed 3:46.93, but the time was
later corrected to 3:46.91. Webb is now the 8th fastest miler
in history. (See below)
As Webb made his way around the track for the final time,
he was cheered on by the 30 or so athletes who had made
the trip with him from Leuven. Said Webb, "That was the
coolest part, because the biggest crowd was the Americans
who drove up with me. It was athletes cheering on athletes.
It was so awesome to have those guys there and it really
inspired me to be able to do something like that at an
intimate situation where those other athletes got to see it
first-hand, right there. They were steps away from me. With
300 to go, all the Americans were stationed right there, so it
was so cool".
When Webb realized he had gotten the record, he hugged
both rabbits, then went down the backstretch high-fiving the
other athletes.
Steve Scott was gracious when informed that his reign as
the American Record holder had come to an end. He told
USATF, "I want to personally congratulate Alan. I anticipated
it [the record] being broken. After his 1:45 [800m] and his
3:30 [1500m], you knew he was capable of it. It was just a
matter of having the right pace and conditions. Even if
conditions weren't perfect, he's so strong, I knew he could
do it. I had a prediction of 3:46.5 for him. "I'm happy that it
was Alan who broke it, and I believe at the end of the day,
when all is said and done, that people will consider him the
greatest distance runner America has ever had. He has
such range, he's so young and he's accomplished so
much. I have nothing to be ashamed of, losing the record to
him."
Ed Bosch, an American "ex-pat" who lives in nearby Antwerp
and works for Johnson&Johnson, was at the meet.
"The
crowd was supportive, but there weren't many of us. Who
would ever think such an American record would fall at such
a small meet in Belgium?"
When asked to put Webb's performance in perspective,
Flynn said, "It means he's run faster than Sebastian Coe,
faster than Steve Ovett, faster than Steve Scott. What else
can you say? Alan's only 24 years old. There's a lot left in his
career." Mile Results: 1.Alan Webb 3:46.91, 2.Max Smith (new
Zealand) 3:56.46, 3.Gareth Hyett (New Zealand) 3:57.46,
4.Seth Summerside (USA) 3:57.84, 5.Tasama Dame
(Ethiopia) 3:58.74, 6.Steve Sherer (USA) 4:07.31; DNF-Mark
Fountain (Australia), Youcef Abdi (Australia), Samson
Surum (Kenya). Full results of the meet: tinyurl.com/2wpt2x
Some quotes from the flotrack video: Deena Kastor: "That was awesome. It was well worth the
car rental and the scary drive over here to witness it. It was a
great day for American distance running and we're all very
proud to be a part of it. Webb: "I'm on top of the world, baby!"..."I think I can go
faster..." Coach Scott Raczko: "It's pretty exciting. (Alan's) worked very
hard to get to this point". Mark Floreani (flotrack): "He's chasing the ghost of Steve
Scott!" (my favorite) Some photos:
mb.trackandfieldnews.com/discussion/viewtopic.php?t=268
14&start=0 (Scroll down) New goals for Webb include a gold medal in the
1500-meters at the World Championships in Osaka and the
World Record in the mile. "It's been a dream of mine since I
was 14". As late as the day before the meet, I had contemplated
going even deeper into debt than I already am by using one
of those internet last-minute travel deals to make my way
over to Belgium. I had been there when Webb ran his first
sub-4 mile at NY's Armory during the winter of 2001(see
below), and again at the Prefontaine Classic later that year
when he ran 3:53.43 to break Jim Ryun's revered high
school record. The temptation to be present at another
potentially memorable moment was overcome by the
economic reality of the situation.
But, thanks to modern technology, I almost felt like I was
there. Within minutes after the finish of the race, Flynn and
Raczko each sent a text message giving the final time and
Webb's splits. And a few hours later, I was one of a handful
of reporters in the U.S. who spoke to Webb in a
teleconference call that was quickly arranged by USATF's
Jill Geer. Also participating in the call were USATF CEO
Craig Masback and Flynn, both of whom ran in Steve Scott's
American Record race. (Flynn set the still-standing Irish
National Record of 3:49.77, while Masback finished 5th in
3:56.59). And then, of course, there is the flotrack video,
which allows everyone to share in the experience of Webb's
big moment.
As part of his "Magical Moments" series commemorating 10
years of dyestat.com, John Dye remembers Webb's first
sub-4 mile in 2001. (tinyurl.com/2g83q3)
ALL-TIME WORLD LIST (Performers)
AMERICAN RECORD PROGRESSION(Since 1955)
(Courtesy of the U.S. National Record Progression
List--by Dave Carey-Scott Davis-Don Potts)
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